This is my favorite boba spot in Ithaca. Their pearls were soft and chewy. They also used real fruit for their grapefruit. The cashier was helpful in making suggestions on which fruit tea too! read more

Kung Fu Tea - Grapefruit Green Tea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Ithaca, New York

This place is okay -- not consistent with the great Kung Fu Tea standard that I'm sure back at home (both in Richmond and Virginia Beach). The layout of the restaurant in general is just the most inefficient way to get customers through (register is basically right in front of the door when you walk in so the line gets crowded even if it's just 3 people). Poor planning of design. Service was okay, nothing to write home about and the order took super long (3 drinks took about 15-20 minutes despite it not being busy at all). The taste was just as good, except my taro slush with no bubbles had fairly large chunks of ice in it. For 15-20 minutes that should have been a soup blending that thing into oblivion. I was pretty disappointed with my experience here since I've always had great ones prior. read more

Kung Fu Tea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Ithaca, New York

I'm not super knowledgeable about what makes a special or authentic bubble tea or anything... I just know this Kung Fu Tea location is convenient and provides me a tasty bubble tea treat to appease my cravings. I stopped by this afternoon to grab another bubble tea and I ultimately went for a large taro milk tea with boba (boba is +$0.50), less ice, after again studying their tea menu. I appreciate the various selections and customizations available. There's a little bit of a wait while your tea is prepped, but not too bad. Considering their tea concoctions are consistently pretty tasty, I'd say it's worth it. Sidenote: there's limited seating inside, though they do well to make the most of the minimal space they have. I'm usually picking my drink up on the go though, so no big deal. Also, I think there's a $7 minimum for credit cards. Usually, I'm only stopping when I have cash (since I park in the lot across the street and use cash for that anyway). read more

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basic boba chain, you know what to expect. it's in cornell's collegetown, so great location, but the layout of the store is pretty unintuitive. I got the mango green tea which was pretty good, and it came out relatively quickly. can't complain much about the drinks or the service, this place is just fine. utea just up the street has a better vibe for around the same price, but the selection here is great. read more

It's ok. Green milk tea with no sugar was still semi sweet so the powder they use probably already has sugar added to it. Too much milk to tea ratio with not enough tea. Boba is overly sweet, but not that cooked-in-brown sugar kind of sweet. I don't know how to describe it. Came here because of a $2 off T Mobile Tuesday deal and no regrets because I can cross this off my to-try list. read more

Good tea for good price. I alway choose no sugar because milk tea is usually loaded with sugar and bubble is soaked in syrup. 0 sugar tastes the best to me. read more

I call Kung Fu Tea the McDonalds of boba. It hits the spot but is the most basic out of all boba joints. Therefore, it doesn't have elaborate flavors and issa four star for me taste-wise. Favorites: - Wintermelon milk green tea hot or cold with boba or pudding - Taro milk tea (milk GREEN tea is nasty with taro) hot, cold or slush with boba - Lychee green tea with boba or lychee jelly (All with less sugar and less ice) Two points I really enjoy about the location is the view (refer to picture) and the manager. I don't know him personally, but he worked with me on a refund after putting in a wrong order (oops!) Location is right near Cornell and I guess you could say it's in the middle if collegetown (no hate pls I don't go to Cornell) or close enough to walk from campus. read more

The boba here is TOO SWEET as if I am sipping syrup directly. I ordered 30% sugar but they must have added more because this is definitely not the correct taste. They refused to make a less sweet one when I suggested the sugar content might be wrong. VERY BAD experience here. Never coming back again. read more

As a Bay Area resident now, I can confidently say that I've had my fair share of bubble tea (or boba if you will) and this Kung Fu Tea doesn't hold a candle to other places. I always like to try the original milk tea when trying a new boba place for the first time so I did the same here and ordered a regular milk tea with boba and less sugar. The first thing that struck me was that the milk tea tasted very thin and watery; it was very mild and almost tasted like it was made from a milk powder. While the chewiness was fine, the boba was also very sweet and had an almost lychee-like flavor to it which overwhelmed the flavor of the already-watery milk tea. As someone coming back to their alma mater, I'll take a pass on Kung Fu Tea next time and try another place. read more

Kung Fu Tea - Regular milk tea with tapioca. Kind of watery tasting - Bubble Tea Near Me - Ithaca, New York

Got the hot oolong milk tea with tapioca pearls and it came out quick and was really good. Always quality. The bathroom was also nice and clean. read more

The same price as any other kung fu tea. However, this location does not have a bathroom and is not conducive to coming here for studying, nor meeting a friend really. There arent even that many seats about 3 tables with 2 chairs per table. The tables are very small. This whole store is very small. They ask if you want to tip them when all they did was place your order. The positive is they do accept credit card for anything over $7. Not as nice as other Kung Fu teas. read more

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Even with 0% sugar their tea is still super sweet. They must use powders with a lot of sugar in them. Way too sweet for my taste.

When I was with my cousin and aunt to look for a bridesmaid dress we decided to try this place, I think I got the passion fruit tea. It was alright, I've never had passion fruit before but it's not my favorite. But I will have to say the milk tea is amazing! I love how sweet it is and the bubbles make it better! I love to add milk to my tea to make it a little sweeter, sometimes I do add a little sugar to it if the ratio between the tea and the milk isn't enough or I would use honey. Overall definitely recommend this place especially the milk tea! read more

I prefer old Teahouse for most of the standard tea drinks (green and black milk tea) but I must say that I do like the golden oolong tea here (which can't be found anywhere else in Ithaca). I'd describe the flavor as a cross between green tea and thai iced tea. Milder than Thai iced tea, but a similar flavor profile. It is nothing like any oolong tea I have had and I am a bit of a tea snob (I've tried over 50 varieties of oolong teas over the years). Just a note, this isn't high grade stuff made from full loose leaves, but it is pretty good quality for a bubble teashop. Sweetness: Their drinks, without customization are slightly less sweet than Old Teahouse. If you prefer a really sweet drink you should customize (more = 120% sugar, less = 70% sugar, half = 50% sugar, little = 30% sugar, zero = no sugar). Their "more" is the default sugar level at most places. I prefer the "half", but I like my bubble tea to be not as sweet. I think the ease of customizing sweetness here is a plus over other Ithaca teashops. Ice level: adjust it! (less ice, little ice, no ice) I like no ice, you tend to get a bit more drink this way. Bring cash: $7 credit card minimum means two drinks are required if you want to use plastic. There is no ATM in the shop. Service: I ordered a drink and they forgot to ask me about the customizable options (it was my first time there). A minute later after reading their menu I noticed that you could request less sugar. I asked if they could do this. They said they already made my drink and then said "is that OK?" In my opinion they should not be trying to make customers feel bad about making the drink over. They should have said "Sorry we forgot to ask about the customizations, we are more than happy to make the drink over if you like". I probably would have just told them it's fine, but as silly as this sounds, I want to feel like am being a nice guy for not having them redo the drink, not like this is what all customers "should" do by default. The details of language and friendliness of service really can change a customer's feelings about the experience. read more

This Kung Fu Tea has horrendous service - the staff messed up my order and I couldn't drink it because there was caffeine in it (when I specifically ordered a non-caffeinated drink) and I ordered late in the evening. I told her it was the wrong drink and she just shrugged and said she couldn't make another one because its already been made. Her attitude was not apologetic at all and she left me standing there with a drink in my hands that I couldn't drink and went about doing her work without even acknowledging my presence. This is absolutely not the first time this has happened; this KFT is notorious for messing up drinks and refusing to change it and being extremely rude to the customers after being asked for a refund or exchange for the proper drink. This KFT is the slowest boba shop I've ever been to, with waiting times sometimes up to 30 minutes; it is very inefficiently managed and often has crowds piling around door because everyone has been waiting forever for their drink. They also rarely abide by their hours - they are always closed on Sundays/Mondays/Tuesdays randomly, even though their signs posted say they have opening hours then. The hours are never consistent and they open very late in the day and sometimes close early. The one time the Kung Fu Tea chain did a 'free boba day' with its app, this KFT closed on that day! As someone from Hong Kong - land of efficient, well-serviced, high quality bubble tea, this store is a massive disappointment and looks bad on the entire chain. It needs a change in management and an operations restructuring. read more

I tried to remain open minded when I walked into Kung fu Tea, to try the new place in town. Unfortunately, I'm spoiled by excellent bubble tea from the Old Tea House around the corner and have high expectations for what my $4 buys. Kung fu Tea, has watered down flavors and charges extra for the bubbles. Neither flavors we tried in any way wow'd us. The service was lack luster and impersonal, though the store was new and clean. A pro is that the have a list of options to make customizing your watered down tea a bit easier. Recommendation, spend your money right around the corner on Eddy street with the Old Tea House. Really. read more

I usually only try milk teas with bubbles at Boba tea places. in my opinion, Kung Fu Tea blends the flavors really well with the milk and the bubbles are usually chewy as well as soft. Original milk tea, Taro, ginger brown sugar, rosehip are some of my favorites! Other than the milk teas, the Lychee punch is awesome! The staff isn't the nicest or the friendliest, like the other Ithaca restaurants but I can still go to get the best bubble tea in Collegetown and perhaps Ithaca! Another complaint I have is the unpredictable opening hours of this place. For an entire spring month, whenever I made a trip to KFTea, it was either closed or just closing! I feel like it could be a really cool late night spot if only they could open it consistently and maybe extend the hours a bit! read more

The staff is quite nice and the bubble tea is far better than non-bubble tea specific places (like Cafe Pacific, Teatime, etc) but I think I still prefer the Old Teahouse. The sole reason I think I'd go to Kung Fu Tea is because they accept credit card and Old Teahouse does not, which unfortunately is very often since I rarely carry cash on me. However, I do like the "Wow Tea" even though a lot of people don't. It's a very nostalgic drink I've had in China as a child. Other reviews mentioned that they get the orders wrong sometimes and I agree, they have gotten my order wrong but not too terribly so I'm not taking off another star for it. read more

Love this place. Most people probably don't know the history of this place. Did you know that it was founded by a Cornell undergraduate at a time when bubble tea was very hard to find and Ithaca was much less developed? That was around year 2000. Not sure if it is the same owner now and I honestly can't even remember if it had the same name back then but the whole Cornell community was super excited when he bought the machine that seals the plastic on the cup. It was very entrepreneurial of a 19 year old. Think about that when you go to this place. read more

I highly recommend Kung Fu Tea! It's a nice cozy environment to sit and chat with friends while drinking bubble tea. They have quite a variety of bubble teas and their boba is never a disappointment! Definitely a must-try read more

visited here to update my old review even after i graduated and this stuff is still gucci

Walked in here multiple times since it opened and they got my drink wrong most of the time. I understand they are sometimes busy but when you get the whole drink wrong and basically tell the customer to fuck off then theres something wrong with the service. Also tapioca is constantly out and they don't make half the drinks advertised on the posters. The drink selection is way smaller than other Kung Fu Tea locations. At least the price is comparable to other bubble tea places in town and the location is close to campus. read more

Not a fan of how they charge extra for tapioca, but I must say the bubble tea is really good. Also, unlike their competitor old tea house, they do accept payment via credit/debit card so that's a big plus read more

Comparable to the other bubble tea place in Collegetown (Old Teahouse). I ordered a medium milk tea for $3.00 and added tapioca for an extra $.50. They currently have a grand opening promotion where you can buy one, get one free for certain kinds of drinks. Here's the breakdown: Price: Okay, overpriced if you're from a big city like NYC or San Francisco. For Ithaca though, it's on par with every other bubble tea place on campus, in Collegetown, and in the Commons. Expect to pay $3 - $6 for a drink. They charge extra for hot drinks, unlike Old Tea House, but I think their hot drinks are the same size as a large. Tea: It's okay. Nothing special, though my drink wasn't as sweet as I'm used to. Not sure if I prefer it this way. Tapioca: This is one thing that I think Kung Fu Tea does better than Old Teahouse- the tapioca was sweet, perfectly chewy, and floral. Other: hours are usually from noon - 11 pm, which is earlier than Old Teahouse's sometimes irregular hours. I can't speak for anything other than the milk tea with tapioca, but they do offer all of the standard flavors (taro, coconut, etc.) and a bunch of other drinks (slushes and milk?!). Worth a try if you want something new. read more

Definitely the best place in Ithaca to get bubble tea. They have so many kind of bubble teas and the quality is consistent. However, be aware that they open pretty late (especially on Monday) and sometimes there is a 5-10 minute wait. read more

I went to King Fu Tea with a friend and knowing that there was a $7 credit card limit, we ordered together. When I went to pay, I didn't realize that my card only had a few dollars on it since my paycheck hadn't gone through yet. The cashier immediately made me feel guilty about it by loudly announcing that my card didn't cover the full amount and asked if I had cash to cover the remaining $4.75. I said I didn't have any cash and apologized and explained that the reason my friend and I ordered together was due to the fact that we didn't have cash. When my friend handed the cashier her card, the cashier roughly grabbed it out of her hands and raised her voice and angrily told us that we should have had cash on us if my card wasn't going to cover all of it. We asked if we could cancel the transaction on my card and pay the full total on my friends card and the cashier only rolled her eyes and said "no, I guess you gave me no other choice than to run two cards". The cashier then began to suggest that my friend should give an extremely generous tip to make up for the inconvenience. Then when our drinks were ready she threw the straws at me angrily. Overall, the customer service was horrendous and the drinks weren't good enough to even potentially make up for how I was humiliated. According to my receipt it says the server was Rongqiang and I was served at 4:37 on May 3rd, 2018. read more

I tried this place for the first time last week and went back again in the same week. I'm not a college student, so I discovered this place simply exploring and was quite delighted. I appreciate that they are well spoken, and even made great suggestions for someone trying their product for the first time. read more

I'm from Flushing and there about 3 of these there? It's definitely better quality than most other bubble tea (or Boba for you west-coasters)chains. I love the Taro green tea milk with tapioca. There are a variety of other toppings. You can also alter the sweetness of the bubble tea. Even if you're not a fan of bubble tea, you should still try Kung Fu tea. read more

I have been to this place a couple of times and have ordered different things. No matter what I get, my drink is always grainy. I do not enjoy grainy bubble tea. It means to much mix is being used. I thought that perhaps it was an opening day fluke; however, every time I go back, I get the same grainy flavor. The servers are pleasant which is good and I like the inside of the establishment. Just fix the mixology and I will comeback. read more

So good! My favorite is the taro slush, no sugar. There are so many choices, and the prices are fair. Lines move quickly, too.

Went here after eating hotpot with a friend and wanted something sweet. Kung Fu Tea has the best boba, perfectly chewy and floral. The tea is aromatic as well and being able to customize it is great! The interior is wonderfully clean and bright, I went Friday night and got my drink in no time at all. I'm definitely going back! read more

Love the variety of flavors. Favorite is mango green tea punch. Hate the credit minimum since I rarely carry cash, but friends and I usually work it out. Usually a longer wait and limited seating due to popularity. I usually grab on the go. Perfect location for business I must say- lots of us college students come in all the time. read more

Almost never have herbal jelly. Would be fives stars if they had herbal jelly regularly. Another star taken off because a couple of times I have been there and they have ran out of tapioca! Seriously, I couldn't believe it. Tapioca is actually better than Old Teahouse. All the teas and flavors feel and taste fresh and natural. None of the weird overly sweet powders that are ubiquitous to Cornell Campus, Collegetown, and the Commons. read more

Not many flavor options for milk tea but you can customize your order. Compared to the Old tea house, this is much less sweet (healthier) and wow milk collection comes with real lactose-free milk, instead of some dubious milk powder. Highly recommended! read more

So I've been there a few times, and they've been out of supplies more often then not. The bubble tea itself is fine, but the service is awful. They have barely any room to sit or stand, and the bubble tea takes awfully long to get. Furthermore, they consistently run out of tea or bubble. If you're consistently running low on supplies, you might think to maybe get more stuff. The bubble tea itself is below average compared to the city. If you're desperate for bubble tea, this could be considered as a last resort where you might not ever get your order. Panda's better consider everything. read more

Just like others, I brought some friends with me to explore all of the tea places of Ithaca. We ended up paying 24 dollars for two teas. I was angry because by the time I got home my wallet was empty. Also, once I got home, the milk tea and the powder separated. I drank half of it and then I had to throw it away. read more

Overpriced for the quality. The last time I went there, they charged me $12 for a simple tea. It wasn't even that good. I prefer the old teahouse. read more

I love this place the tea is great the people are great and its easily accessible anywhere in town

Overpriced and got my tea wrong(forgot the bubble). They also added wrong charges to my bubble tea for a "bubble fee", which I believe should be included in the price already. read more

Horrible customer service, no friendly greeting, they were not accommodating to my choice of bubble tea. Awful!! Never going back there again, I'm not wasting my money on those suckers. You want good friendly service and delicious bubble tea, go to Panda Tea Lounge on Eddy St. read more